First, they took on the political establishment in Congress. Now, tea partiers have trained their sights on a new and insidious target: local planning and zoning commissions, which activists believe are carrying out a global conspiracy to trample American liberties and force citizens into Orwellian "human habitation zones."

At the root of this plot is the admittedly sinister-sounding Agenda 21, an 18-year-old UN plan to encourage countries to consider the environmental impacts of human development. Tea partiers see Agenda 21 behind everything from a septic tank inspection law in Florida to a plan in Maine to reduce traffic on Route 1. The issue even flared up briefly during the midterms, when Colorado Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes accused his Democratic opponent of using a bike-sharing program to convert Denver into a "United Nations Community."

Quote:

She says tea partiers understand that "there is a global agenda to actually abolish private property and abolish the Constitution for that matter." If sustainable development is fully implemented, she says, "This basically will turn us into a Soviet state."

In the tea partiers’ dystopian vision, the increased density favored by planners to allow for better mass transit become compulsory "human habitation zones." They warn of Americans being forcibly moved from their suburban dream homes into urban "hobbit homes" and required to give up their cars and instead—gasp!—take the bus to work. The enemies in this fight are hidden behind bland trade-association names like the American Planning Association or ICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability).

Post subject: Re: I missed the memo that sustainability is a communist plo

Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 7:12 pm

Drunk Dialed Ian MacKaye

Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2010 1:03 pmPosts: 1868Location: Central PA

That plan in Maine to reduce traffic on Route 1, I'm pretty sure what they're talking about is that there's one point where Route 1 goes through a town that's got a lot of popular tourist stuff, and so it gets really backed up during the summer, so the plan is to build a side road going around that town, so that people who just want to go by can drive around the town, and only people who actually want to go into the town will drive through it.

...I should give up trying to follow this logic. I can't in any way get from this planned side road to what they're talking about.

edit: OK, I was wrong about which Route 1 plan it was, but it still makes no sense.